The 2 Main Foundational Myths of Ancient Rome

Though the founding of ancient Rome was thousands of years ago, there are still arguments as to how and by whom it was founded. There are many myths on this, but the two main myths are those of Aeneas and of Romulus & Remus.

Aeneas

Aeneas’s wish when he was fighting in the Trojan War was to die for Troy. However, he survived the war because the gods wanted something more from him. (source)

Legend has it that Jupiter sent Aeneas to go start a new city. He would know where to place the city when the men started eating their plates. So Aeneas, carrying his father (Anchises) on his back and holding his son’s (Iulius) hand, walked out of the city, not really knowing where he was going.

However, he got distracted when he stopped by Carthage. He fell in love with Queen Dido, and Jupiter had to send Mercury to kick him on his way. He unwillingly left her, and hopped back into his boat. (source)

Then he crashed into Italy. The crew stopped to eat, and one man put his food on a leaf and rolled it up into a burrito. Aeneas then realized that the man was eating his plate and the city must be there. There were already people living there, but Aeneas took over and started to build. They named their little village “Abalonga,” meaning “big, white city.” Later, Rome grew and really did turn into a big city. (source)

Romulus & Remus

In this legend, Numitor was the king of Alba Longa, but his brother Amulius disposed of him. Then, to make sure that no one was a threat to his power, he made Numitor’s daughter a vestal virgin. However, she (Rhea Silvia) was visited by the god Mars and became pregnant with twins. (source)

When Numitor found out, he was furious and had Rhea Silvia thrown into a prison cell. Then her twin boys, Romulus and Remus, were set in a basket and put in the river. The idea was that since the gods disapproved of killing their children, they would let the gods decide the fate of the children. They put the children in a basket on the water and if the gods decided to rescue the children, they would. If not, they would let the babies die. (source)

Well, "the basket drifted ashore instead of going out to sea or upsetting, and a mother wolf found the twins and nursed them as if they were her own babies. A woodpecker also helped and fed them berries." (Hillyer 103) (Later the woodpecker became sacred to Rome.) Later on, a shepherd named Faustulus found and rescued them. Under his care, they grew to be strong, brave young men. When Faustulus told them their history, they went back and rescued their mother. Then they restored Numitor to the throne. (source)

Romulus and Remus then went out to build their own city. They argued about the location, the name, and even how high the walls would be. “After Romulus began building the city, Remus jumped over the sacred ditch that surrounded the city. Such an act was considered very disrespectful, and for it Remus was killed. Romulus, then ruler of the new city, named it ‘Roma’ for himself.” (Hicks 236) The location of Romulus’s city was where the she-wolf raised the twins.


Works Cited

Hicks, Laurel Elizabeth. Old World History & Geography in Christian Perspective. U.S.A., A Beka Book. 1999.

Hillyer, Virgil M. A Child’s History of the World. Hunt Valley, Maryland: Calvert Education Services. 1997.